Dick Beyer

Beyer began as a "babyface" wrestler in the mid-1950s. His career as a "masked" wrestler, The Destroyer, began in 1962 in Los Angeles. He used the "figure-four-leg-lock" on his way to the Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA) championship on July 27, 1962 in a win over Freddie Blassie, who convinced him that the mask gimmick would give him a large "push". Beyer went on to defend the WWA title for 10 months.

In early 1963, Beyer wrestled three sold-out matches against Shohei "Giant" Baba at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. In May 1963, Beyer traveled to Japan for the first time, to wrestle with Rikidōzan, in a match watched by 70 million TV viewers. In June 1964, Beyer returned to Los Angeles and beat Dick the Bruiser for another WWA title. Beyer lost the title to Bob Ellis in September, won it back in November, and then lost it for the last time in March 1965 to Pedro Morales.

Between 1966 and 1972, Beyer wrestled as Doctor X while in Minneapolis, although he was known as "The Destroyer" elsewhere. During his time as Doctor X, Beyer had matches with many of the top names in the business including his real life brother-in-law Billy Red Lyons. In fact, it was Lyons who handed "X" his first American Wrestling Association (AWA) defeat on Minneapolis television when he defeated the good Doctor with a figure four leg lock. In August 1970, "X" removed his own mask to get a chance at revenge against his former partner Black Jack Lanza. He stood in the center of the ring with announcer Marty O'Neill, who told the fans that "X" was a former coach from Syracuse University. "X" then removed his mask, handed it to St. Paul promoter Eddie Williams, and wrestled the match as Dick Beyer.

In other AWA cities, he was actually unmasked by both Lanza and Paul Diamond. In these matches, his name was revealed to be Bruce Marshall. The reason for Beyer wanting to be unmasked was that, he and his family were set to go on a world tour, where he would also wrestle again as The Destroyer. It has been speculated that by late August 1970, Beyer had already left the AWA and that it was "jobber" Bobby Jones under the mask until Beyer removed his own mask on the August 8, 1970 card in St. Paul. During 1972, Beyer had several battles with "Crippler" Ray Stevens. Their last match resulted in Beyer as Doctor X having his leg "broken." This "injury" allowed Beyer to leave the Minneapolis area to join a wrestling tour in Japan.

From 1973, Beyer wrestled in Japan for six straight years, in a deal with Giant Baba and NTV of Tokyo. During his tenure in Japan, he had a feud with Mil Máscaras which resulted in a series of seven matches. Beyer also helped promote All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for Giant Baba and established himself as a television personality in a late-night TV show called Uwasa No Channel. Beyer held the PWF United States Championship until 1979, when he left AJPW and the championship was abandoned.